Shell coins in £1.5m an hour

SHELL has unveiled record winter profits running at £1.5m an hour, days ahead of the next round of petrol price rises.

Shell's profits of £3.3bn for the first three months of the year come on the back of a 21% rise in the oil price over the last year, which could see British forecourts break the £1-a-litre barrier this summer.

Oil hit new highs of more than $75 a barrel last month. Analysts are now warning that political tensions in big oil-producing nations in the Middle East, West Africa and South America could push the price to $100 a barrel.

The rising global oil price is expected to see average petrol prices in the UK top £1 a litre through incremental price rises in the coming weeks.

Average prices around the country are already at a record of more than 96p a litre, topping the previous mark set last September. That rise came amid fears of international shortages after the damage caused by hurricanes to the oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Many garages around the country are already charging well above the average - as much as 105p a litre for unleaded and 110p for diesel.

Shell said its profits - up 12% year-on-year - came despite restrictions on production in the early months of the year.

Chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said: 'Our overall performance was satisfactory. It was satisfactory despite a series of operational challenges in the quarter, created by external factors in Nigeria and the Gulf of Mexico.'

Mr Van der Veer took charge when Sir Phil Watts was forced out of the job after the scandal two years ago when Shell was forced to admit it had been overstating its oil reserves.

Shell's oil fields in Nigeria have been hit by local militia unhappy with the company's presence in the region.

Fears over the future of supplies from what is Africa's biggest oil producer, plus the continuing stand-off between the west and Iran over the Middle Eastern country's nuclear ambitions, have been named as major factors in the spiralling oil price, trading today at $72.40 for a barrel of Brent Crude.

The forced nationalisation earlier this week of the industry in another major producer, Bolivia, has further spooked markets. But profiteering by oil companies has not been restricted to British-based companies like Shell.

The French outfit Total today reported first-quarter profits of £2.3bn, up 16% on a year ago.